The Wayne County Commissioners met Tuesday morning in the county courtroom. Limited progress on the Courthouse Renovation Project was made and a Wayne County official shared a certification update.
Commissioners received an agreement from Kingery Construction which would lock in both Kingery and subcontractors for the exterior renovation project. At the last commissioners meeting, the board was told they would need to act quickly to lock in both workers and prices.
County clerk Deb Finn reported to the commissioners that current Wayne County Attorney Michael Pieper had declined to look over the agreement, instead recommended the commissioners wait until both the new county attorney and county commissioner had been sworn in in January. The agreement will only be good through Dec. 31, and all commissioners agreed that an attorney should look over something of that nature.
"I know we're on a time frame and I know we have to move on this to get the subcontractors," District No. 1 commissioner Randy Larson said. "I'm not going to agree to this before I have an opinion (from an attorney) on this."
Incoming county attorney, Amy Miller told the commissioners she would reach out to the deputy county attorney to see if he could look over the document. With that, the commissioners approved an agreement with Kingery Construction, pending attorney approval.
Tentative dates for a possible masonry workshop highlighting the tuck-pointing and mortar work that will be used on the courthouse project have been set for May 7-10, 2019. The workshop idea was brought to the commissioners from project architect Jerry Berggren. While learning about the techniques, those at the workshop will, in theory, also do some of the work on the courthouse. Finn told the commissioners that there is some discussion of holding two different sections of the workshop due to initial interest. She also said that Berggren suggested working with a 501(c)(3) to help defray the cost of the class.
Wayne County Emergency Manager Nic Kemnitz updated the commissioners about his office. Kemnitz received his Type 3 All-Hazards Planning Section Chief certification from the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency. Kemnitz had three years to successfully complete 70 tasks in the FEMA All-Hazards Planning Section Chief Task Book. During that time he also had to work on Type 3 Incidents and planned events. Kemnitz earned the certification on Dec. 13.
Highway Superintendant Mark Casey updated the commissioners on the Temme Bridge project. A construction engineering agreement between Wayne County and Mainelli Wagner & Associates for the project.
District No. 2 Dean Burbach accepted a $247,050 trade-in bid with $14,000 parts credit for a 2019 CAT140 all-wheel drive articulated motor grader from Nebraska Machinery.
During the meeting Wayne County Sheriff Jason Dwinell and Kemnitz discussed the possibility of using space in the annex building.
The Wayne County Commissioners meet the first and third Tuesday of every month. That would mean the first January meeting would be New Years Day so the commissioners decided to meet next on Dec. 31. On Thursday, Jan. 3 new county officials will be sworn in at 9 a.m. in the Wayne County Courtroom.
